Cattle

With huge historical deforestation associated with the production of cattle, estimated at nearly 50 million hectares between 2001-2023, cattle production is the number one ranking agricultural activity linked to forest destruction, biodiversity loss, and linked social violations, predominantly in Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia. The top-5 global producers of cattle are the United States of America, Brazil, China, Argentina, and Australia. Also in Australia, beef production is a primary driver of deforestation. The main bovine cattle products imported in Europe include tanned/wet blue leather hides (34% import share of the cattle products relevant under the EUDR in 2024), fresh beef (28%), and frozen beef (14%). While beef is the primary economic driver of cattle production, the sale and processing of leather hides provide significant revenue for the sector. In 2024, leather accounted for one-quarter of the value of all cattle products in the EUDR’s scope imported by the EU, representing one of the most significant global exposures of the EU market to deforestation embodied in trade.

Main exporters of Cattle

The top 5 exporters of Cattle are: United States of America (16.8%) , Brazil (14.4%) , China (11.7%) , Argentina (5.0%) , Australia (3.8%) , Together, they represent 51.8% of global Cattle exports in 2025.

Top 5 global producers of Cattle

Cattle Trade Heatmaps

Cattle overview for the entire EU

HS Code	Description	Total Non-EU Imports (MT)	Relative Share (%)
010221	Pure-bred breeding cattle i Live bovine animals - Pure-bred	284	0%
010229	Not pure-bred breeding cattle i Live bovine animals - Other (e.x. cattle for meat production or dairy that are not specifically pure-bred breeding stock)	1,483	0%
0201	Fresh beef i Bovine meat, fresh or chilled	196,565	27%
0202	Frozen beef i Bovine meat, frozen	127,489	18%
020610	Beef offal fresh i Edible offal of bovine, fresh or chilled	8,103	1%
020622	Beef livers i Edible bovine livers, frozen	168	0%
020629	Beef offal frozen i Edible bovine offal (excluding tongues and livers), frozen	6,155	1%
160250	Processed beef i Other prepared or preserved meat, meat offal, blood of bovine animals	15,969	2%
4101	Raw leather hides i Raw hides and skins of cattle (fresh, or salted, dried, limed, pickled or otherwise preserved, but not tanned, parchment-dressed or further prepared), whether or not dehaired or split	110,005	15%
4104	Tanned leather hides i Tanned or crust hides and skins of cattle, without hair on, whether or not split, but not further prepared (wet-blue)	227,746	32%
4107	Prepared leather i Leather of cattle, further prepared after tanning or crusting	27,101	4%

Top importers of Cattle per product

HS Code	Products	Relative Share of non-EU imports (%)	#1 i For each of the top-5 ranking EU27 importers, the table displays the country (name); trade volume (metric tons), and share of the product (%)	#2	#3	#4	#5
010221	Pure-bred breeding cattle i Live bovine animals - Pure-bred	0%	Spain 144 50.8%	Poland 74 26.2%	Austria 30 10.6%	Italy 12 4.4%	Germany 12 4.4%
010229	Not pure-bred breeding cattle i Live bovine animals - Other (e.x. cattle for meat production or dairy that are not specifically pure-bred breeding stock)	0%	Spain 1,315 88.7%	Romania 97 6.6%	Germany 28 1.9%	Bulgaria 17 1.2%	Austria 10 0.7%
0201	Fresh beef i Bovine meat, fresh or chilled	27%	Netherlands 75,565 38.4%	France 31,984 16.3%	Germany 30,804 15.7%	Ireland 18,699 9.5%	Italy 15,591 7.9%
0202	Frozen beef i Bovine meat, frozen	18%	Italy 43,664 34.2%	Netherlands 34,540 27.1%	Spain 12,974 10.2%	Ireland 12,181 9.6%	France 11,685 9.2%
020610	Beef offal fresh i Edible offal of bovine, fresh or chilled	1%	France 3,724 46.0%	Ireland 2,858 35.3%	Germany 1,073 13.2%	Netherlands 378 4.7%	Spain 55 0.7%
020622	Beef livers i Edible bovine livers, frozen	0%	Netherlands 70 41.9%	France 36 21.9%	Ireland 21 12.7%	Estonia 20 12.0%	Germany 19 11.8%
020629	Beef offal frozen i Edible bovine offal (excluding tongues and livers), frozen	1%	France 4,034 65.5%	Netherlands 796 12.9%	Ireland 524 8.5%	Portugal 213 3.5%	Spain 172 2.8%
160250	Processed beef i Other prepared or preserved meat, meat offal, blood of bovine animals	2%	Netherlands 3,461 21.7%	Ireland 3,233 20.2%	Italy 2,185 13.7%	Belgium 2,025 12.7%	Germany 1,168 7.3%
4101	Raw leather hides i Raw hides and skins of cattle (fresh, or salted, dried, limed, pickled or otherwise preserved, but not tanned, parchment-dressed or further prepared), whether or not dehaired or split	15%	Italy 57,167 52.0%	Sweden 13,326 12.1%	France 10,067 9.2%	Austria 6,153 5.6%	Netherlands 5,345 4.9%
4104	Tanned leather hides i Tanned or crust hides and skins of cattle, without hair on, whether or not split, but not further prepared (wet-blue)	32%	Italy 192,756 84.6%	Spain 14,774 6.5%	Portugal 6,083 2.7%	Poland 2,826 1.2%	France 2,763 1.2%
4107	Prepared leather i Leather of cattle, further prepared after tanning or crusting	4%	Italy 15,010 55.4%	Spain 2,200 8.1%	Poland 2,029 7.5%	Germany 1,829 6.7%	Netherlands 1,556 5.7%

Top exporters of Cattle per product

HS Code	Products	Relative Share of non-EU imports (%)	#1 i -Country (name) -Trade volume (MT) -share of product (%)	#2	#3	#4	#5
010221	Pure-bred breeding cattle i Live bovine animals - Pure-bred	0%	United Kingdom 220 77.5%	Switzerland 58 20.4%	Canada 5 2.1%	India 0 0.0%	China 0 0.0%
010229	Not pure-bred breeding cattle i Live bovine animals - Other (e.x. cattle for meat production or dairy that are not specifically pure-bred breeding stock)	0%	United Kingdom 1,320 89.0%	Serbia 97 6.6%	Switzerland 44 3.0%	North Macedonia 17 1.2%	Andorra 3 0.2%
0201	Fresh beef i Bovine meat, fresh or chilled	27%	United Kingdom 61,077 31.1%	Argentina 54,812 27.9%	Uruguay 28,083 14.3%	Brazil 24,316 12.4%	United States 12,320 6.3%
0202	Frozen beef i Bovine meat, frozen	18%	Brazil 59,065 46.3%	United Kingdom 23,169 18.1%	Uruguay 18,095 14.2%	Argentina 8,130 6.4%	Namibia 6,603 5.2%
020610	Beef offal fresh i Edible offal of bovine, fresh or chilled	1%	United Kingdom 7,014 86.6%	Switzerland 1,073 13.2%	Canada 4 0.1%	Uruguay 3 0.0%	New Zealand 3 0.0%
020622	Beef livers i Edible bovine livers, frozen	0%	New Zealand 111 64.0%	United Kingdom 34 19.7%	Norway 22 12.8%	Iceland 0 0.0%	United States 0 0.0%
020629	Beef offal frozen i Edible bovine offal (excluding tongues and livers), frozen	1%	United Kingdom 4,674 75.8%	New Zealand 683 11.1%	Uruguay 560 9.1%	Argentina 98 1.6%	Australia 44 0.7%
160250	Processed beef i Other prepared or preserved meat, meat offal, blood of bovine animals	2%	Brazil 9,090 56.7%	United Kingdom 5,877 36.7%	North Macedonia 498 3.1%	Serbia 322 2.0%	New Zealand 145 0.9%
4101	Raw leather hides i Raw hides and skins of cattle (fresh, or salted, dried, limed, pickled or otherwise preserved, but not tanned, parchment-dressed or further prepared), whether or not dehaired or split	15%	United Kingdom 37,108 33.7%	Norway 15,393 14.0%	Switzerland 14,268 12.9%	United States 8,778 8.0%	Serbia 6,772 6.1%
4104	Tanned leather hides i Tanned or crust hides and skins of cattle, without hair on, whether or not split, but not further prepared (wet-blue)	32%	Brazil 79,321 34.8%	United States 40,027 17.6%	New Zealand 23,398 10.3%	Paraguay 21,488 9.4%	Australia 13,874 6.1%
4107	Prepared leather i Leather of cattle, further prepared after tanning or crusting	4%	Brazil 10,175 37.5%	India 6,500 23.9%	Türkiye 1,972 7.3%	Pakistan 1,583 5.8%	South Africa 1,114 4.1%

Data freshness Latest source update: 20 March 2026 Last checked: 13 April 2026, 12:29